However, HTC told Advertising Age that the brand isn’t paying for an endorsement: “We noticed the Kenny Powers Twitter account was actively talking [about] the HTC One and helped them get their hands on a device. We don’t have an endorsement or paid relationship. We merely helped get the device into the hands of a fan.”

If it were a sponsored tweet, it would also probably need to indicate as much in the tweet, per the FTC’s recently released list of recommendations for marketers using Twitter.

The following tweet supported the claim that the HTC One “endorsement” may have been in jest:

Just ate a delicious @subway® sandwich (Eat fresh.™) and thought how amazing it is that opinions can be so easily confused as endorsements.

That said, HTC has so far pursued an unorthodox marketing strategy with its phone. The device launched with a Funny or Die sketch featuring James Van Der Beek in a Bachelorette parody in which a woman had to choose between competing phones.

Powers/McBride also promoted K-Swiss in 2010-2011 in a campaign that had him becoming the CEO (or “MFCEO) of the company.